This invention relates generally to body building and exercising devices and more particularly to devices for building body muscles where the resistance is provided by means other than weights.
As our society has become more mechanized fewer jobs require arduous physical effort. As a result, physical conditioning and muscle building activities have become increasingly popular, as sports and hobbies. In general, these activities divide themselves into two classes: Those performed for the purpose of maintaining muscle tone and good body condition, and those of a considerably more rigorous nature performed to build more powerful muscles and for competition. For many years weight lifting has been the favorite means used by those pursuing this latter class of activity, and as a result, a great variety of devices to assist in its practice have been developed.
Weight lifting equipment originally consisted of bar bells upon which weights of selected amounts could be assembled. However, more recently, weight lifting devices of greater sophistication have come into use. An important example of this are devices which hold a stack of weights in assembly and permit a selected number to be lifted by means of a cable or lever arm. These devices have enjoyed great acceptance because they eliminate the safety hazard and inconvenience of loose weights and barbells. These new devices still present some hazard from falling weights, however, and have the same disadvantages of restricted portability and excessive bulk experienced with the older apparatus.
Resistance devices other than weights have been used in exercising apparatus but these devices have not been suited to use in muscle building activities because of expense and complexity or their inability to withstand the substantial forces involved.
A need, therefore, exists for a resistance mechanism in a muscle building exercise device which eliminates the use of weights and yet is sufficiently simple and rugged to find acceptance.
It is, therefore, a major object of my invention to provide a muscle building exercise device with a resistance mechanism other than weights.
It is also an important object of my invention to provide a muscle building exercise device of the type described which is sufficiently rugged to withstand the force necessarily present in weight lifting activities and is still sufficiently inexpensive to manufacture and simple to operate to achieve commercial acceptance.
It is a further object of my invention to provide a muscle building exercise device of the type described in which the resistance mechanism can be utilized with different actuating means to numerous variations in the exercises performed.
It is yet another object of my invention to provide a device of the type described which is more readily portable, less bulky, and less hazardous than prior known devices for performing such activities.
It is yet a further object of my invention to provide a a muscle building exercixe device of the type described in which resistance is incurred when the users move the device in one direction but it may be moved freely in the opposite direction.